Current electronic devices such as tablet devices support the display of virtual keyboards. In operation, an electronic device displays differently-sized virtual keyboards based on changes in the orientation of the electronic devices. For example, a first virtual QWERTY keyboard size can be displayed in a portrait orientation of the electronic device and a second virtual QWERTY keyboard size can be displayed when the electronic device is in a landscape orientation. The differences in overall size of the virtual keyboards affect the size (and sometimes placement) of individual keys of the virtual keyboard. The type of virtual keyboard, however, remains the same regardless of the size.
Different types of virtual keyboards may be variations of QWERTY keyboards (e.g., 101-key QWERTY, 60-key QWERTY, 35-key QWERTY, etc.), numeric-type keypads (e.g., 12-key Bell, 17-key calculator), and others. Although a user of the electronic device is often able to switch among different sizes of virtual keyboards (e.g., portrait and landscape sizes of any particular virtual keyboard), the user must often access a separate menu or selection function of the electronic device to switch among different types of virtual keyboards. This functionality requires multiple steps and is time-consuming, and the user may end up switching keyboard types less often than the user desires.
Accordingly, there is an opportunity for more effective techniques for modifying the display of virtual keyboards on an electronic device.